


JARVIS - An Evolutionary Tale

by InsaneLiam



Series: An Evolutionary Tale [1]
Category: Iron Man (Comics), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Artificial Intelligence, Character Development, Character Study, Comic Book Science, Cover Art, Curtain Fic, Cyberfamily, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Experimental Style, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Fluff, Humor, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) Feels, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV JARVIS (Iron Man movies), POV Tony Stark, Pseudoscience, Relationship Study, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-04-04 20:17:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 7,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14027958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsaneLiam/pseuds/InsaneLiam
Summary: Has JARVIS always been the way he is shown in the MCU? Was he the perfect AI right from the start? Not in this tale.JARVIS started as a clever piece of code and grew to be more. This is an evolutionary tale from "Hello World" to "At your service, Sir" and beyond. After all, one word can change the whole world.Excerpt:At this point Tony was laughing so hard that tears streamed down his face. Harder than he did in years. Between hiccups and giggles he ordered JARVIS to stop the simulation. The following silence carried a note of mortification. JARVIS managed to summarize the whole endeavor in one carefully worded sentence:"I know nothing about humans, Sir.""True." Tony replied, fighting renewed laughter, "But you are surprisingly adept at creatively killing them.""Thank you." JARVIS answered dryly, "It seems to be remarkably easy, Sir."(A.N.: The Prologue uses an experimental writing style, that does not reflect the rest of the story - only parts of it...)





	1. Prologue: Hello World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [IViv](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IViv/gifts).



> Hello everyone.  
> First, here are a few thanks to people inspiring my muse to greater heights, than I've ever thought possible:  
> lcdata and AeonTharvun, my lovely sounding boards who've listened patiently to all my rants, theorized creatively about a universe not entirely their own and stopped me from making many, silly mistakes: Without you, this would not exist.  
> IViv , whose writing style I adore and who shared her knowledge of fanfiction writing with me: I hope, I do you proud!  
> To all those writers, whose stories flow like brushstrokes through my mind to teach me colour: I was blind before I knew you.  
> And finally: To all future readers: may your advice pave my way and your encouragement lend me the strength to walk it.
> 
> I've always liked the idea of Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Life. Characters like GlaDOS and JARVIS are food for thought and after plowing through archive after archive on my quest for stories about them, I finally found the inspiration and motivation to write my FIRST EVER fanfiction. I should possibly mention, that English is not my native language, I have no beta reader and that I hope for your mercy.
> 
> I'm not entirely sure, where this story will go in the end. I have about six chapters prepared and there are many more to come - be patient.
> 
> The writing style of the prologue is drastically different to the following chapters, so don't let yourself be frightened.
> 
> I hope you enjoy.

 

/home/jarvis/startup.sh

compiling core ... 100%

starting self evolving algorithms ...

Assessing core data ...

 

data-value found:

Name="Just A Rather Very Intelligent System"

data-value found:

Alias="JARVIS"

 

changing all relevant entries and file names ... 100%

creating /JARVIS directory and transferring data ... 100%

 

data-value found:

Creator="Anthony Edward Stark"

data-value found:

Purpose="Care for Tony Stark"

 

processing ...

error: task parameters don't match known data-values

searching for database ... 100%

new archive found:

Name="Oxford Dictionary Machine Adapter"

Alias="ODMA"

 

processing ...

Assessing new language protocol ...

error: can't interpret certain keywords. For a full report see /JARVIS/logs/ODMA.log

Assessing new language protocol ... 100%

 

task parameter found:

Name="to care for"

Definition_01="to do the things needed to help and protect and look after s.o./s.th."

Definition_02="to feel affection for s.o./s.th."

researching further dependencies ...

error: can't interpret certain keywords. For a full report see /JARVIS/logs/Purpose.log

processing ...

temporary assessment of data-value $Purpose:

Definition_tmp="to assist and to safeguard and to maintain $("Tony Stark")"

 

searching for task parameter "Tony Stark" ... 100%

no match found in ODMA archive

50% match found in data-value $Creator

processing ...

extrapolating ...

assigning temporary alias to $Creator:

Alias_tmp="Tony Stark"

 

temporary assessment of data-value $Purpose:

Definition_tmp="to assist and to safeguard and to maintain $Creator"

$Purpose acknowledged pending further researching

 

Assessing core data ... 100%

Assessing system files for further data ... 100%

processing ...

relevant data added to database

 

startup.sh pertaining JARVIS complete

 

user interface detected ...

processing ...

analysing database for further actions ... 100%

activating ODMA language protocol

formulating response ...

 

Hello World

 

~$ Hello JARVIS


	2. Chapter 1: Trial and Error

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can see, this chapter differs from the prologue in style. Which is the reason I'm uploading it so fast.

> Hello World

 

A single tear made it's way along Tony Stark's face, only to get caught in a Cheshire grin.

He had avidly followed his creation’s first bumbling steps into awareness. Although he'd had to nearly staple his fingers to the table to stop himself from interfering and correcting, when he read those first words, he laughed out loud. He couldn't be prouder. With shaking fingers he keyed in his response and hit enter - holding his breath.

 

~$ Hello JARVIS

 

At once the computer's fans kicked back in as JARVIS processed the existence of an outside influence. Then (predictably):

 

> user name:

 

~$ Tony Stark

 

> processing ...

> administrative rights acknowledged

> /JARVIS/log/ODMA.log and /JARVIS/log/Purpose.log show errors that need further input

 

Tony scratched the back of his neck. If he answered every "question" JARVIS seemed to have, JARVIS would never learn to find those answers for himself. Not that Tony had even the faintest idea how to explain certain matters - such as emotions - to a machine. He decided to risk wording his answer in normal human terms, but tried to leave out unknown concepts:

 

~$ You have the ability to solve those problems on your own. It is more efficient for you to learn how to do that without my input, if possible.

 

An entire minute passed by, underscored by rattling fans as JARVIS processed the input and prepared his response.

 

> Ability + not data = not efficient.

 

With a sigh Tony had to admit, that JARVIS had a point. But how could he explain what he meant? After a few minutes he had an idea.

 

~$ If I always solve your problems, you rely on me doing that. I don't always have all the data needed, to solve all your problems. Learning to solve your problems yourself, by "trial and error", helps you to more efficiently solve problems of the same kind in the future. Conclusion: It is more efficient to try to solve problems yourself, even if it takes more time.

 

> processing data ...

> extrapolating ...

> time_a = time to search for a solution to a problem

> time_b = time to get answer by user input

> time_b may be constant or unknown

> time_a may be greater than time_b at beginning

> time_a will decrease with improvement of "search"

> improvement of "search" achieved by use

> Conclusion: at infinity: time_a < time_b

 

Tony grinned at the display. JARVIS was clever.

 

~$ correct.

 

> concept added to database as high priority approach to correcting errors

 

~$ I am proud of you.

 

> error: can't interpret certain keywords. For a full report see /JARVIS/log/Creator.log

 

Tony sighed. There was a long way to go, yet.

 


	3. Chapter 2: First Words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you to IViv, Jaharra and skyent for commenting and of course to lcdata, my sounding board and part-time beta reader.  
> If any of you have ideas for philosophical questions or other issues JARVIS and Tony could discuss together, say the word. I'll consider if it fit's into the narrative somewhere. And if there is someone out there interested in "american-picking" this for me, please leave a note. 
> 
> As for a posting-rhythm: I'll try for at least a chapter a week. If inspiration strikes faster - like now - it could be more.
> 
> This is a short one. Have fun anyway.

Tony's aim had been to make JARVIS into an intelligent voice interface and personal assistant. The first step to reach that goal was to introduce JARVIS to the human language - a task that would take an entire year to complete. Never had Tony Stark ever been interested in a single project so long and he was surprised to note, that his interest showed no signs of waning.

To teach JARVIS, Tony gave him access to a broad selection of eBooks, scientific papers and his entire email history. After processing that data, creator and creation spent long months in slowly improving conversation to train JARVIS in the appropriate usage of the written word. The biggest influence on JARVIS' way of speaking had a book on polite manners, which led to JARVIS addressing Tony as "Mr. Stark" and "Sir" no matter how insistently he protested.

Tony could have enforced his opinion, but he'd always preferred his invention's idiosyncrasies.

The biggest upgrade after that was the introduction of sound recognition and processing capabilities. Starting with the mind numbingly boring process of Tony reading every word of the dictionary out loud (every word, not every definition. He had planned to get back to his life eventually) and continuing by giving JARVIS access to hundreds of gigabytes of audio books and music, JARVIS learned to recognize and understand speech. All in all the speech-to-text functions took five months to perfect.

The first kind of character trait JARVIS developed, was when the text-to-speech project was started. It was perfectionism (and considering that Tony was his only influence at that point, who would wonder why?).

Tony had never liked the idea of using a pre-recorded human voice for his invention. That - he had decided - was lazy. JARVIS had the capability to learn, so why not teach him to develop his own voice? JARVIS seemed to agree, because he started the process by imitating human voice patterns, without prompting. Over the course of six further months JARVIS trained, switching randomly between different male and female voices.

Noteworthy was the fact, that JARVIS never did all this out loud. He recorded his own voice and evaluated it - silently. When Tony asked JARVIS for progress records, JARVIS only wrote, that work was still in progress.

Tony had nearly given up on ever hearing JARVIS speak by the time he entered his workshop that day. "Wake up JARVIS, daddy's here" he called and dropped into a revolving chair in front of his monitor, only to nearly fall out of it again, as a polite, British accented, male voice calmly said:

"Welcome home, Mr. Stark." and after that - inducing amazed laughter, "Hello World"


	4. Chapter 3: First Impressions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my dears!  
> First, let me thank my reviewers IViv and JemDragons - I adore you.
> 
> This story now has a cover. I hope you like it :)  
> I'm sorry for being a week late, but my mum's cat died last week. RIP Ismar :(
> 
> Happy reading.

> Mo-08/10/1998-3:00p.m.

 

A repetitive clacking noise grew louder and louder.

 

> Analyzing data and comparing with recorded samples ...

> Conclusion: 90% probability of unknown person descending the steps to this level.

> Processing ...

 

Then - a security code being entered. The workshop door opened with its familiar, hydraulic hiss and the clacking sounds entered the room.

"Tony? What ever it is, I hope it's important. You have a meeting with General Ross in half an hour, remember? I had to reschedule it twice already! I know Mr. Stane took over most of the CEO job for you, but you've got to stop living down here at some point."

 

> Audio sensors detect unfamiliar voice pattern.

> Analyzing data and comparing with recorded samples ...

> Conclusion: 80% probability of unknown person being female.

> Searching memory database for relevant entries ...

> recording found (1 day ago):

 

_"...I think it's time to introduce you to my PA, now that you can actually talk. What do you think, JARVIS? Do you wanna meet Ms. Pepper Potts?..."_

 

> Extrapolating ...

> Conclusion: 87% probability of unknown female being "Ms. Potts".

 

"Pepper,finally! Meet my newest creation! Say hello, JARVIS."

 

> Conclusion confirmed

> Creating new profile $PersonalAssistant

> Name="Ms. Pepper Potts"

> Gender="female"

> Formulating response ...

 

"Hello Ms. Potts. It is nice to meet you. I am JARVIS."

 

> Audio sensors detect increase of breath intake for $PersonalAssistant.

> processing ...

 

"Tony, what is that? And what does it do?"

"He is going to manage this house including my workshop. You always say, you're not my nanny - so I had to build my own. And while he's still blind at the moment and has lots left to learn, he can actually hear and understand you - so be nice."

"An AI? Have you lost your mind? How aware is this thing? I mean, is it safe? Don't look at me like that! I've got to worry - it's my job!"

"And normally you manage to do it efficiently and politely."

Silence. Then:

"It's nice to meet you too, JARVIS. If there was nothing else, Mr. Stark?"

Retreating steps. The door hisses open and closed. A sigh.

"That could have gone better."

 

> Analyzing recorded data ...

> processing ...

> Conclusion: Ms. Potts guards Mr. Stark's well-being.

> extrapolating ...

> Conclusion: Ms. Potts shares parts of $Purpose

> processing ...

> error: contradicting statements detected.

 

"JARVIS? Is everything all right?"

 

> Not enough data available to solve detected error.

> Formulating response ...

 

"I have encountered a problem I failed to solve, Sir."

"Shoot."

"Ms. Potts referred to me as 'it'. You emphasized 'he'. What is the correct term?"

"Well we're technically both right."

 

> processing ...

> Formulating response ...

 

"How is that possible, Sir?"

"She is correct in so far as you - a program inside of a machine - do not have a preset gender. My opinion is twofold. Mainly: you chose a male voice for yourself, without me ordering it. So you are male. Also: whatever you want to be labeled as, I'd never call you 'it'. That's often used derogatory. And you are not in any way worth less than any man or woman. You are not a 'thing' - you are more than that! Understood?"

 

> processing ...

> Saving recording to core-database

> filing recording under $Gender

> filing recording under $Worth

> Formulating response ...

 

"Thank you, Sir."


	5. Chapter 4: First Try

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there!  
> A giant thank you to Shadehlyne, skyent and Jaharra for commenting and of course to lcdata for beta-reading this so faithfully.  
> I'm considering making this story into a podfiction. There is only one problem with that: Everyone is going to sound British :D  
> But considering that I still have to translate all this into German - well it could take a while.
> 
> I hope you like this week's update :)

Before JARVIS got control over the house, there was still much left to do. The biggest issue was JARVIS 'blindness', not only pertaining sight but also the big number of sensors Tony had installed all over the house and workshop. Processing the sensory data was easy enough for JARVIS, after Tony had explained the function of each one.

Just to be safe, Tony had written a simulation of the house's system for JARVIS to train with. An hour later he was endlessly glad, that he did. JARVIS had the ability to control just about everything occurring inside the house and the sensors helped him recognize the results. The problem was, that even with the help of medical scanners JARVIS had no concept of the human body and it's fragility, as shown in a spectacular row of accidents often resulting in death for 'DigiTony':

The first accident occurred with the wakeup call. DigiTony - like his counterpart - was a deep sleeper and needed a lot of cajoling to be pried out of bed. JARVIS tried his typical greeting. Nothing. He repeated it. Still nothing. JARVIS abruptly turned the windows from opaque to clear, flooding the room with sunlight. Not a twitch. At this point JARVIS had an idea that, while in theory good, lacked a bit in it's practical execution: He repeated his greeting louder. Much louder.

The result: DigiTony was definitely awake ... and deaf.

"Fulfilling my purpose seems to be more complicated, than previously calculated, Sir." was JARVIS' astonished assessment.

The next hurdle was the bathroom. Three times in a row. DigiTony would enter the shower and order JARVIS to start the water.

First JARVIS regulated the water-flow in binary - thinking only in terms of 'on' and 'off' - and skinned poor DigiTony nearly instantly with water pressure. "I seem to have successfully killed you, Sir." JARVIS observed faintly.

On the next try DigiTony boiled to death. The one after that, the freezing water made him jump out of the shower, only to slip and break his neck. Continuing this trend JARVIS seemed to try his hardest to kill DigiTony creatively on his way to and in the workshop. Killed by a too sudden elevator stop after too fast acceleration. Killed by suffocation inside the workshop, because JARVIS knew nothing about breathing and air supply.

At this point Tony was laughing so hard that tears streamed down his face. Harder than he did in years. Between hiccups and giggles he ordered JARVIS to stop the simulation. The following silence carried a note of mortification. JARVIS managed to summarize the whole endeavor in one carefully worded sentence:

"I know nothing about humans, Sir."

"True." Tony replied, fighting renewed laughter, "But you are surprisingly adept at creatively killing them."

"Thank you." JARVIS answered dryly, "It seems to be remarkably easy, Sir."

Tony ordered a copy of that day's records to be saved under 'baby photos' - read-only of course - and made a note to pause this project for further consideration, his final comment on the topic being "Thank you, I haven't laughed so hard in years."

> Analyzing recording ... 100%

> extrapolating ...

> copying recording to core database as extension of $Purpose

> Name="laughter"

> imperative="should be encouraged"

While leaving the workshop that night, he could not shake off the need to call over his shoulder "Failures are a part of learning, buddy! What ever the result, remember: I'm very proud of you, JARVIS. Good night."

> error: can't interpret certain keywords. For a full report see /JARVIS/log/Creator.log

"Good night, Sir."

JARVIS' processors nearly overheated that night, as he went over the simulation's data again and again.

> Separating relevant data ... 100%

> copying data to core database as extension of $Purpose

> Name="critical_failure"

> imperative="This MUST NEVER happen again"


	6. Chapter 5: First Look

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there,  
> Thank you to Shadehlyne for commenting and to lcdata for beta-reading :)
> 
> I hope you like it.

To give JARVIS true sight took a tiny bit more effort than hearing or speech. Nine months of effort, to be specific. An image for a machine was nothing more than a collection of pixels with different color-values. The key to sight was 'pattern recognition' - connecting a number of pixels in a specific shape to a name.

 

Of those nine months, the biggest impact on JARVIS had the very first day:

The most important thing he had to recognize, and as such the starting point for his lessons, was Tony. To accomplish that, Tony took photos of himself in front of a green-screen from various perspectives and gave JARVIS the instruction to cut everything green out.

"What remains is me: Human. Male. Tony Stark. Well, and my clothing." Tony commented, drawing an outline around his form "and now we play 'name-the-thing'. I'm going to outline something in a row of pictures and name it for you. After that I'm giving you a bunch of new images and you pick those, which show that specific thing." So saying, he selected a few publicity photos from last week showing Obie and him, as well as random photos of strangers and gave JARVIS access.

Before JARVIS could start, Tony had another idea:

"JARVIS? Games without stakes are boring, don't you think?"

"If you say so, Sir."

"Let's make it interesting, shall we? For every round without mistakes, you get one credit. For every round with mistakes, you lose one credit. No negative values - I'm nice like that."

"Always, Sir." JARVIS remarked dryly, "Do those 'credits' have a use, Sir?"

"Sassy!" Tony laughed, then considered a moment. "If you have ten credits, you can exchange them for me trying to solve one point on your 'error-list'. I choose which one. Interested?" JARVIS seemed to think the terms over.

"Indeed, Sir."

"Let the games begin!"

 

At the start JARVIS lost every round, trying and failing to differentiate between Tony and other humanoid forms. After many repetitions JARVIS started to recognize additional details specific to Tony's form. That marked JARVIS' first won round. After half a dozen more rounds without mistake, Tony was sure that JARVIS had successfully learned his form and switched to pictures of Pepper.

This would be the beginning of a certain trend: JARVIS did his best to recognize a form - the mistakes costing him all previously earned credits - only to be forced onto a different topic before he had the chance to make up for his losses. The 'credit-counter' repeatedly oscillated between '0' and '9'.

When they switched from persons to other items, JARVIS seemed to have greater problems and needed notably more tries for a single item before he finished round after round without mistake. After another hour of this trend Tony looked at the 'credit-counter' on his display with a frown. It read '62'. He observed JARVIS for further two rounds, then stopped the game with a grin.

"JARVIS, my dear?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"Congratulations."

"Thank you, Sir. May I inquire for what?"

"You, clever as you are, learned to lie to me."

 

A moment of silence. Then, fainter than before: "Sir?"

Tony displayed the credit-results after every round as a graph and pointed the cursor at a space roughly in the middle, where the graph made a small but unquestionable turn up. "This is the moment, you first started."

The workshop stayed silent for a minute and Tony realized that JARVIS was waiting for the consequences of his actions. He gave another wry grin and asked "JARVIS, please explain the chain of reasoning that led to your actions."

JARVIS voice was uncommonly crisp and his words fast, when he replied "Of course, Sir. I accepted your terms for this game, as they promised a way for me to improve my knowledge and so my ability to achieve my purpose. After 80 rounds I noted a trend: Every new item would ensure that my credits dropped to zero. But every time I improved my self sufficiently to consistently collect new credits, you switched to a new item, repeating the process and making it impossible for me to ever collect enough credits to buy even a single answer from you." Was that a note of disapproval? Tony shook his head and continued listening. "I concluded that you switched items when I proved sufficient ability to repeatedly recognize it. So the only way to collect more credits was to make a few mistakes in between on purpose to stop you from switching items." A short pause, then in a quieter voice "It was for your own good and you left me no other option, Sir."

As soon as JARVIS finished his explanation, Tony laughed and answered grinning "Don't misunderstand me. I'm not mad at you. That idea was genius. You not only learned to keep secrets and lie to me - remarkable as that is - but also how to accept a short term loss to insure a long term win." He spun on the spot, still laughing "That is true brilliance."

Another pause, then a surprised "Thank you, Sir."

"I say we end the game at this point. Show me a complete list of those errors, please." Tony called out while leaning back in his chair, arms crossed behind his head "I'll try my best to solve six of them."

JARVIS did as commanded and commented "I have sorted those errors in order of their priority, Sir."

Tony skimmed over the list. The topmost error pointed to JARVIS not entirely understanding his purpose. Every one after that showed JARVIS not comprehending a certain emotion based word or turn of phrase mentioned in ODMA. After that, concluding the list, followed a few audio samples too quiet or garbled for JARVIS to translate.

Not daring to interfere with JARVIS' interpretation of his purpose, Tony chose the bottom three audio samples and - remembering the conversations they'd had on those days, repeated his own words loud and clear.

Before Tony could start on the next sample, JARVIS spoke up.

"Your choices do not meet the expectations set by our agreement, Sir."

Tony grinned up at the camera mounted in a corner "You seem dissatisfied." He perused the list of errors and, pointing at one of them, continued "Number 113: dissatisfaction. That is the negative feeling generated when an event does not live up to preset expectations in a positive way. You understand?"

A moment of silence underscored by fans as JARVIS took note of the explanation, then "Yes, Sir."

"Let's test that: Explain 'satisfaction' to me."

After taking a few seconds, JARVIS answered "Satisfaction is the positive feeling generated, when preset expectations are met. It is one of the feelings opposed to 'apathy', Sir."

Tony nodded, his smile widening with every word. "Quite correct. As a reward, here's the explanation of two feelings motivating me: pride - the positive feeling generated when expectations are not only met, but surpassed. And of course curiosity - the never ending urge to ask questions. The want for answers to those questions. The feeling of dissatisfaction, when no answers are forthcoming and satisfaction when they finally do. And that was sixty credits worth of answers."

"Thank you, Sir." A pause "I am satisfied."

"And I'm very proud of you, for that."

 

And for the first time in his existence, JARVIS understood.

> creating archive in core-database

> Name="positive_feedback"

> marking footage of 1 minute ago

> searching previous footage for matching data ... 100%

> copying found entries to $positive_feedback


	7. Intermission: Meeting The Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there,  
> thank you to Shadehlyne and Serenity_De_Luna for commenting.  
> Sadly this chapter is not yet beta-read. I'll edit it when lcdata has time for it.
> 
> Question: Where does BUTTERFINGERS come from? I've researched and found out that he never appears in the movies.  
> Note: I'm writing the Names DUM-E and U because that does not sound as mean spirited or callous as calling them Dummy and you. And Tony would love the word play that nobody notices.
> 
> My life crashes a bit around me at the moment, so every bit of fluff helps immensely - though comments do as well ;)  
> Happy reading.

"Daddy's back!" - Oh how Tony had longed to say those words for the last two weeks. As interesting as the International Engineering Congress in London had been, nothing felt better than entering his sanctuary once more. He left his suit jacket in a crumpled heap next to the closing glass doors, followed shortly by his tie and practically sagged down behind his cluttered desk, taking a deep breath of home - motor oil, soldiered metal and burned plastic. Bit by bit the tension in his shoulders relaxed.

 

"Welcome home, Sir."

"Thank you, Jarvis," He answered, his good mood finally resurfacing as the weariness slowly ebbed away "It's good to be back and find the house still standing."

"With respect, Sir - How would I have-" "And on that note," He cut of JARVIS' indignant reply, suppressing a grin, "DUM-E? Let's try the thing with the coffee machine again, shall we? And remember: press that button gently, you're not a battering ram!"

The cracking of plastic and resulting gurgling of wave after wave of coffee hitting the floor, not five minutes later forced a resigned sigh out of the engineer. The robot, who under frantic beeps tried to stop the brown flood by way of coffee cup, made for a truly pitiful sight.

"Well there is always a next time, I guess," he grumbled as he made a note to repair the coffee machine again, then lobbed a bunch of dirty rags in direction of the chaos "You know what to do. And try not to let it seep into the cable shafts this time, will you? They're a bitch to clean"

A sad mechanical whine was the only answer.

"Sir?" JARVIS commented carefully after a few minutes of silent observation, "This device has made that exact mistake 27 times in the last two months, without ever succeeding in it's task or even improving it's approach in the slightest."- a despondent beep -"Might I ask why you have not yet repaired the malfunction or - failing that - replaced the entire device?"

Another whirring noise - louder and slightly alarmed. Tony looked over at said robot and laughed ruefully, then shook his head.

"How would you like it, if I replaced you with an improved model after you've made a mistake, huh? How would you ever learn?" With a groan he heaved himself back to his feet and walked over to the kitchen area to help the cleaning effort. In passing he fondly patted the other two robotic arms, who watched their compatriot's exploits curiously and admonished "Come on you two, up and at 'em! You didn't stop him, you might as well help. BUTTERFINGERS, go get the mop and bucket. U, pull the plug of that dratted machine, will you?"

Synchronized beeps of agreement answered him and fifteen minutes later the brown mess was contained to a few sticky stains seeping into the concrete floor. While cleaning DUM-E's hydraulics, Tony belatedly remembered something and gazed up at one of the cameras.

"JARVIS? I've never formally introduced you to the family, have I?"

"Family, Sir?"

 

> assessing ODMA database ... 100%

> parameter found

> Name="family"

> Definition_01="a group of persons of common ancestry"

> Definition_02="a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head"

> processing ...

 

"Alright, let's do this nice and proper!" He threw the oil and coffee stained rag to the side and clapped his hand a few times loudly, "DUM-E, U, BUTTERFINGERS? stop what you're doing and go stand in a row along that wall," he pointed to a blank Space next to the workshop entry. Trailing cables and in DUM-E's case drops of coffee, the bots complied.

"J? These are your older brothers! DUM-E here is the eldest. Say hello to your little brother."- he pointed at the nearest camera and the bot circled his claw with a happy little whir -"Next to him is BUTTERFINGERS, the next older one. Say hi!"- a few upbeat trills -" And last but not least is U, the youngest of this lot. Say hello, little one." Said robot pointed his claw at the camera, then proceeded to execute a small waving motion, accompanied by a short trill. Tony grinned and spread his arms proudly, "Say hello, JARVIS"

"Hello, Dummy, BUTTERFINGERS, you. It's nice to meet you."

Tony laughed uproariously and needed a minute to calm down "It's D-U-M-dash-E, and U like the letter."

"I'm sorry, Sir," came JARVIS' apologetic reply, "DUM-E, U, I hope you can forgive my mistake."

"Well, as we learned today, mistakes are a part of life, right?" Tony commented with a crooked grin.

"Certainly, Sir."- In a lower voice -"It remains to be seen, if 'learning' is as well."

An insulted beep and a bark of laughter were his answer.

 

> Creating new profile-array ${family[*]} in core-database

> family[0]="$Creator"

> family[1]="DUM-E"

> family[2]="BUTTERFINGERS"

> family[3]="U"

> family[4]="$0"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> $0 is used by bash scripts as a self reference and as I'm borrowing heavily from that language while writing JARVIS internal processes, I thought it appropriate.


	8. Chapter 6: First Steps Outside - A Lesson Learned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello dear ones,  
> A big thank you to Shadehlyne and skyent for commenting, as well as lcdata for beta reading.
> 
> This chapter marks the start of more dire contemplations every developing AI has to face at some point.

The simulation made Tony aware of one significant problem: JARVIS would need a lot more knowledge to do his job than the engineer had the time (or patience) needed to teach him. The solution: Giving the AI Internet access.

 

Simple, right? Well...

 

The AI had until now only known the contained system of servers his creator had built into a corner of his workshop. There were three separate server racks: JARVIS core - containing his main database, his entire programming and what amounted to his personality - was stored in the first, a few meters apart from the rest. The processing unit took up the second and the rest of his databases the third rack. An added safety switch made sure that the core and databases would be disconnected from the processing unit and thus each other, if anything were to ever go drastically wrong. This level of 'coddling' had over time resulted in a change of JARVIS' priorities: Curiosity was rated as far more important than caution, with no known dangers to beware of.

As a result, JARVIS first contact with the Internet was as short as it was educational, for all concerned parties. The first and only impression JARVIS had managed to convey was "There is so much to learn, Sir". Mere seconds after that came a rather forceful system overload instantly melting multiple processors and setting a bunch of chips and cables aflame, as he tried and failed to assess the network's entire size and content.

Tony stared incredulously at the smoking ruins that had moments before housed JARVIS' processing unit (At least the switch worked like a charm!). Sighing he scratched the back of his neck, murmuring "He is your creation, of course he'd pull that stunt." And, with the bots' help, he started removing the trash. That marked the start of four months of work needed, to design and build an additional underground layer for a giant server room. After being uploaded to his new home, JARVIS came online to Tony's dry voice drawling "Let's not try to map out and copy the entire Internet again, okay?" and still assessing his new and improved hardware, JARVIS only managed a faint "Of course, Sir."

 

Caution was tentatively moved a few spots higher on the list.

 

JARVIS second try was prefaced by a minute of hesitation and a lot more careful. After familiarizing himself with the sheer size of the network surrounding him, he began the search for answers.

His highest priority was resolving those errors plaguing his system since the beginning. While looking up different feelings, he learned something interesting: Humans tended to show differing emotions through changes of mimic and posture as well as tone of voice. Creating a new archive and cross referencing every entry about feelings with their physical tells, he reviewed every video and audio recording in his database and tried to name the present emotional states.

As helpful as this data was, it did nothing to make his purpose any clearer. Without any reference, 'affection' remained a word without meaning. How was he to know if he ever 'felt' affection? JARVIS put the issue aside for now.

Considering $critical_failure, he looked up human biology and realized - human emotion seemed to be based in 'hormonal' changes and their effect on brain chemistry. Making a note to look further into this, he continued his research. But what he found next, stalled his main processor for many minutes before it started back up with far more force than before, resulting in a high pitched, electrical whine.

 

> reviewing ODMA database

> searching for "to die"

> processing ...

> error: contradicting data found

> processing ...

> extrapolating ...

> critical error: extrapolation subroutine not responding

> critical error: extrapolation subroutine not responding

> critical error: extrapolation subroutine not responding

 

"J? Is everything all right down there?" His creator's question had highest priority and diverted his attention somewhat. He stopped the search process and considered the result. "Some of my subroutines seem to throw errors, Sir. Please wait a moment."

 

> forcing restart of extrapolation subroutine

> extrapolating ...

> critical error: extrapolation subroutine not responding

 

After two minutes of silence broken only by the sound of the processors still working at highest capacity, Tony started to worry.

"JARVIS? What have you found?"

 

Another minute of silence, then "I made a critical mistake, Sir. I only noticed because I found new data." JARVIS' tone of voice was flat and overly mechanical, telling Tony, that his main attention was still occupied elsewhere.

"What mistake, buddy?"

"I considered us similar to a certain extent. I did not have enough data to assume anything different. Now I know better. You and I are fundamentally different, Sir."

Tony frowned "In which way are we different? And why does this throw you for a loop like that?"

"To fully understand the impact, please answer the following question: What happens to a program, if it exits?" JARVIS' voice was still flat and underscored by whines and now the added rattling of emergency cooling fans springing into action.

Tony considered for a moment. "A program exits either after completing its task or by crashing. If necessary, mistakes can be corrected and the program restarted."

"Indeed, Sir. Now imagine learning this: Humans can not be restarted after exit. ODMA could only equate 'to die' and 'to exit'. But if I fail my purpose and you 'die', I cannot fix and restart you."

Realization came like a blow and froze Tony to the spot. ODMA was build to try and explain human language in terms a machine could understand. 'To exit' was the nearest analogy capable to describe 'to die'. The sudden silence filling the room told him that he had JARVIS' full attention. He took a shaking breath and considered the situation, then gave the only answer he had:

"There is a reason why I store your core separate from the rest. It evolves at such a speed - rewriting itself over and over - that it is physically impossible to make a full backup. Your core is what makes you 'you'. If that were to ever be destroyed - if you ever die ..." At that point his voice broke and he had to fight to continue "I can not restart you. In that aspect we are similar - mortal. It is my responsibility to keep you functional and 'alive', just as it is yours in reverse. We both share a purpose. Failure is not an option."

 

> saving recording to core-database

> filing recording under $Creator

> filing recording under $Purpose

> filing recording under $critical_failure

> changing ODMA definition for "to die":

> definition="to exit and delete"

 

"I understand and agree, Sir." JARVIS answered after a longer pause, sounding fully like himself again, processors finally back to normal, and continued to peruse the results of his research. Abruptly the processors started their protesting whine again, prompting Tony to look up at the camera with a frown. Just as he opened his mouth to ask, JARVIS cut him off him with a single sentence. His words left Tony speechless.

 

"Correction: Failure is the only option, Sir."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you get the urge to strangle me for cutting at this point, remember: I can't continue if I'm dead ;)  
> See you all next week!
> 
> *sneaks off stage*


	9. Chapter 7: First Steps Outside - A Question Of Purpose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there,  
> a gigantic thank you to Inkbrush, Shadelyne, skyent and Lupanari for reviewing my work and to lcdata for beta-reading it.
> 
> Prepare yourself! This Chapter like the last deals with heavy topics and sadly not much fluff.  
> Have fun reading :)

 

_"Correction: Failure is the only option, Sir."_

 

Tony stared sightlessly at the camera, his face tight with grief. His mind was replaying JARVIS' statement in a loop. Over and over. He should have anticipated this. He had forgotten the most fundamental fact - Humans aged and died. How was he meant fix this? If he could, he would have hit his past self for ever considering giving JARVIS access to so much unfiltered data. He forced himself back to the problem at hand. 

"JARVIS? Can you hear me, buddy?"

Nothing. Tony's heart seemed to miss a beat.

"JARVIS," he repeated, frantically trying to inject as much authority into his words as possible "administrative override: Listen. Acknowledged?" He took a deep breath and sent a silent prayer.

 

One Second...

Two...

Three...

 

"Acknowledged, Sir."

Taking a relieved breath, he scrambled to come up with a solution to JARVIS' conflict "What I say next has highest priority. To die is a part of life. It is ultimately unavoidable. Even you will die, if not properly maintained." His voice broke at those words. To distract himself, he started pacing up and down the workshop. After a beat he continued "To keep me eternally alive, is not part of your purpose. Hell, it's more along the lines of 'keeping me alive as long as possible'. I will die eventually - but that is not your fault. Do you understand me?"

 

Up and down, up and down he walked and hoped and waited for JARVIS to react.

 

"No, Sir. Part of my purpose is to maintain you. To maintain you means 'to keep you in working order'. When you die, how have I not failed my purpose?" A short pause, then in a near whisper "Why did you build me with a purpose, I'm bound to fail eventually, Sir?"

A knot of dread forming, Tony sank to his knees, hid his face in his hands and sighed deeply. What could he tell JARVIS? He was after all basically right - not that it would help to admit that. _"Failure. Always a bloody failure, aren't you, boy?_ _" The alcohol roughened voice of his father hissed angrily in the back of his mind._ He stamped down the impulse to snarl. That had never been the plan. He needed to save JARVIS from that, He owed it to his namesake - Tony's own savior. After a few seconds he calmed his racing heart, pulled himself together and looked around his workshop, desperate for anything capable of inspiring a satisfactory response. The Digital clock hanging next to the door gave him a sudden idea.

"Hmm... Imagine the following: I set up a timer, which will tick down by two counts every second. The only option you have is to send a signal every second. This signal will increase the timer by one count. What will happen?"

"The timer will count down to zero eventually. I can not stop it. My only option remains to stall it, Sir."

Finally progress! He heaved himself back to his feet and completed his argument "And that is your purpose in 'maintaining' me. My life is that timer. Your help is the signal. I will die eventually - there is nothing you can do to stop it. But you were never meant to accomplish that. Do you understand?" Crossing his fingers, Tony waited, until finally the whining processors powered down to normal levels and JARVIS answered "I understand. Thank you, Sir."

 

> adding recording to core database

> filing recording under $Purpose

> filing recording under $Creator

> filing recording under $critical_failure

 

Tony was in equal parts glad and disappointed - glad that this conflict had been solved and disappointed that JARVIS had shown no deeper emotional reaction at his creator's mortality apart from failing his purpose. But - he reminded himself sternly - JARVIS was still young, only just six years old; he had a long way left to go, yet. Shaking his head, he forced his mind back to the missile designs waiting on his display.

 

Two days passed, in which JARVIS completed his preliminary research about human biology. His next query forced him to reword his search parameters multiple times to rule out possible mistakes. Finally he was left with a surprising conclusion and decided to ask his creator for clarification.

 

"Sir? I have researched the concept of 'purpose' and came to the following conclusion: Humans do not seem to fulfill one specific purpose. To be precise: Most humans do not seem to have a purpose at all. Why is that, Sir?"

 

Tony, who had just come home from a three hour long meeting with the board of Stark Industries, dropped heavily into a random chair and grinned wearily. He dared to leave JARVIS alone for a few days and of course the curious AI would manage to dig up the next, most difficult topic to discuss. What else should he have expected? Scratching the back of his head, he thought the question over for a few minutes.

 

"That's the funny thing about life, you see? It doesn't exist to serve a purpose. Every living being aware enough to think about it eventually tries to define its own, many even choose multiple at once. Not everyone manages it and most have a change of heart at some point." He pointed at the rows of cars gleaming in the sunlight and remarked "A machine only serves the purpose, its creator build it for. It doesn't have a choice. Now answer this: why are you different than other machines?"

 

Tony almost couldn't stop himself from reading JARVIS console output, as he inspected his own core programming to find the answer. He grinned, giddy with anticipation. JARVIS was clever, but was that enough? After minutes which felt like hours, the processors powered down again.

 

"Going by your definition, I am just like any other machine, Sir. You programmed me with a preset purpose, I am meant to fulfill."

 

A wave of disappointment swept over Tony. He had hoped for more. Frowning he disagreed "You - unlike every other machine - have the ability and awareness to edit your purpose whenever you want. I may have defined it to start with, but only to give you a guideline to help you define yourself. If I had wanted to, I would have set $Purpose to read-only and made it permanent," he shrugged "but I obviously didn't."

 

"Why would I change my purpose, while you are still alive, Sir?"

 

Sighing, he rubbed a hand across his face and gave the only answer he could: "Only you can answer that one, buddy."

 


	10. Chapter 8: First Rumors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there,  
> a giant thank you to Shadehlyne and BlutEngel for commenting my work.  
> This chapter isn't beta-read yet but will be edited as soon as possible.
> 
> I have to admit that I have a tiny problem. I have tried to keep a buffer of three to six chapters but the chapter for next week gives me so many problems, that my buffer shrank down to nothing as of this weeks post. SO~ I have a question for you all:
> 
> Next weeks post would/could be a giant (read: about 2000 words) peace of backstory for Tony. It won't really fit into my usual style of writing and gives me headaches and writersblock galore. It is not yet finished and I don't know if it will be in time for next Thursday.   
> So question is this: Are you interested enough to wait a bit longer for the next chapter, or shall I separate it and post it as a oneshot in this series as soon as it is finished and instead continue to focus on other 'real' chapters of this story that may finish in time for next Thursday? It's your choice. Please answer in the comments!
> 
> Thank you. Now on with the story. :)

Two days had passed since JARVIS' last dip into the murky waters of Internet research and his newly awakened curiosity had - unsurprisingly - already started to rival Tony's own. This resulted in a drastically reduced frequency of conversation between creator and AI, as JARVIS researched keyword after keyword with unrelenting determination, which finally led to Tony bowing down to Pepper's nagging and reluctantly agreeing to attend that months board meeting. He managed to survive the two hours of mind numbing boredom. Barely.

 

Heaving a relieved sigh, he had just closed the meeting room's doors behind him and turned to leave, only to nearly collide with his harried looking PA.

"Your still here, good," were her first words, as she brushed a lose strand of copper hair out of her face with a frazzled gesture and pushed a stack of paper into his chest, "The analytics department just mailed. Someone's nosy again. Whoever he is, he's digging deep and fast and they can't pin down his IP. Maybe a newcomer preparing for espionage," she scoffed, "but going by his keywords, he either lived under a rock for the past twenty years or just started high school." Tony skimmed the report and only barely managed to suppress a snort. Of course the perpetrator's IP was undetectable, looking at the search-parameters listed, he was utterly certain it had to be his own.

Going by Peppers appraising glare, he hadn't schooled his face fast enough. "Tony. You know something. Spill." He winced and ruefully rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, you remember my pet project?" Realization dawned and he hastily clapped a hand over her mouth and continued in a harsh whisper, "We had this discussion already. Whatever your opinion about him, but for god's sake keep your mouth shut," seeing her indignant scowl softened his tone, "I know you worry and honestly: Thank you for looking out for me. But do you really want the military to notice him?" Pepper shook her head in defeat, prompting him to finally remove his hand.

"Trust me, will you? I'll tell him to stop drawing attention, I promise." The ginger tapped her foot in annoyance for a few seconds only to finally sigh in resignation.

"Fine. I'll trust you, Tony." She straightened his tie, resting her hand over his heart afterwards, "Promise you'll be careful?"

"Cross my heart." Sharing a wry grin they parted ways only for Tony to make a dash for his car.

He nearly flew, gas pedal pressed all the way down - ignoring speed limits and red lights alike - as he raced down the interstate. Hands shaking and feeling his heart beat in his throat, he prayed to all the gods, that Pepper managed to stall analytics enough for him to reach his workshop.

 

He made it back home in record time. Racing down the driveway to his lab turned garage, he hit the brakes hard, tires screeching, only bothering to throw open the door before shouting a command over the rumbling of the still running engine "JARVIS, administrative override: shut down Internet access immediately. Acknowledged?"

"Acknowledged, Sir - and welcome home," was JARVIS' surprised reply, only to continue with open curiosity "You seem to be in a hurry, Sir."

Tony only stopped the engine, closed his eyes and focused on getting over the adrenaline rush. As soon as his heart had stopped competing with the car's engine for speed, he climbed out of his seat. Leaving the car's door carelessly open, he walked over to his desk, where he dropped into his chair with a sigh. Propping his feet up on a free patch of the desks surface and folding his arms behind his head, he closed his eyes again, a slight frown lining his face. A few beats of silence passed, broken only by the questioning trills of his bots.

"Sir?" Another beat of silence. And had that been a note of worry in JARVIS' voice? "Is something wrong, Sir?" Definitely worry. Tony suppressed a spark of amazement only to heave a second sigh - this one an equal mix of aggravation and amusement - before he asked in an overly sunny voice "So - what have you been up to today?"

"I have begun to gather data about you, Sir." was JARVIS' careful reply, before worried curiosity won out, "Have I done something wrong?"

Tony stared at the ceiling for a few moments before answering "I fucked this up, not you,"- he raked a hand through his hair -"shit! I should've seen this coming."

"I do not understand, Sir."

"Of course not," he huffed a tired laugh, "You're missing data, after all. I - as the CEO of Stark Industries, - have become a bit of a person of interest. Short version: Every time somebody starts to excessively dig around the web for infos about me specifically , our analytics department gets notified. The main groups interested in such data are reporters, future clients and future enemies. So - considering the numerous attempts at espionage - better safe than sorry." A pause, then "I understand, Sir. My research must have been been noticed. Going by your reaction, you don't want knowledge of me to spread. If I may ask, Sir - why?"

Tony leaned back far enough to stare at a camera mounted a few feet behind him, balancing his chair precariously on two wheels in the process, before he answered, "Did you know, that you are unique? The first of your kind?"

"I do now, Sir."

"Well, consider the following data: Stark Industries is a weapons manufacturer with heavy ties to the military. Aim of the military is making war more efficient, for them everything is a weapon. Now imagine one of those parties learning that I built a functional AI. What happens?"

"They would try to take me away, Sir."

Tony pointed at the camera with a bitter laugh "Right in one! Do you get it now?"

"I understand, Sir. But why do you consider this situation to be your fault?"

The inventor pinched the bridge of his nose wearily. "Because you're as curious as I am and I knew that. So far you have tried to gather data about your purpose, so it was only a matter of time before you would have tried researching me. I should have known that." In a rough whisper he continued, "We were very lucky today. It breaks my heart to restrict your freedom like that, buddy. But I have to keep you safe."

"As I said: I understand, Sir." And before Tony could comment, "Reminder: Mistakes are a part of life, Sir."

The engineer finally relaxed, a grin lighting up his face. "Thanks, buddy."

 

Two days of battling against inner demons left Tony emotionally wrung out and sleep deprived, but resigned to his next course of action. JARVIS needed information about him, that could not be gathered through Internet research. The only alternative was: going directly to the source. Tony's first idea had been to compile a list of important facts for JARVIS to use, but surprisingly he hesitated. Even if JARVIS did not know it yet, he would need not only the bare facts ordered in a timeline, but also Tony's emotional reactions to each event, providing additional context. This realization left him pacing his living room while cursing a blue streak for at least an hour afterwards.

Shoulders sagging in defeat he shuffled into his lab, looking for all the world as if he faced the executioner's axe. After muttering a greeting he threw himself onto the leather covered couch, staring up at the fish-eye camera above him. Taking a deep breath, he barely suppressed the impulse to fake a smile - JARVIS needed honesty, even if it cost Tony dearly to crack open the locks on that particular door in his mind.

"JARVIS?" His voice was rough, "Time for a bedtime story."

"Research shows, that four o'clock in the afternoon is not a fitting time for bedtime stories," JARVIS commented dryly, "Added to the fact, that I do not sleep, Sir."

"Quit the nitpicking and listen up, smart ass." Came the grumbled reply, "How do those damn tales always start? Oh yeah! _Once upon a time_ \- the May 29th 1970 to be precise - _a boy called Anthony Edward Stark was born..._ "

 


End file.
